Tiffany Michelle Speaks Out About Poker News – Interview with PND

Tiffany Michelle’s battle against PokerNews rages on. The controversy surrounds the poker player signing a sponsorship agreement with Ultimate Bet after Jeffrey Lisandro and PokerNews owner Tony G bought her into the $10,000 World Series of Poker Main Event. In the latest development, Tony G responded in his blog. He summed up his portrayal of the arrangement he had with his former reporter: “She is considered to be an official representative of PokerNews, and in all matters of honor and integrity, how can she discard her responsibility to PokerNews and step into a contract with someone else as their official representative?” To find out the answer, Poker News Daily spoke directly with Tiffany Michelle to learn her side of the story.

Michelle finished 17th in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, cashing for $334,534. Tony G’s blog claims that the money would be distributed as follows: One-third would go to Jeffrey Lisandro, one-third would go to Tony G, and one-third would go to Michelle. Tony G, an owner of PokerNews, stood to gain a large amount of mainstream exposure for his business given the perceived prominent placement of a PokerNews patch on Michelle’s hat. Instead, on Day 5, Michelle showed up donning UltimateBet gear and relegating her PokerNews patch to her t-shirt. Let’s take a look at what Michelle’s arrangement with PokerNews was, in her eyes:

Poker News Daily: To your understanding, was the arrangement with PokerNews exclusive?

Michelle: We were at a party and Jeff Lisandro brought up the idea of buying me into the Main Event if I wore a PokerNews patch. It would bring them publicity. To me, it was Lisandro and Tony G backing me. For Tony G, it was all about wearing a PokerNews patch and agreeing to the percentage that he’d receive. It wasn’t PokerNews buying me into the Main Event; it was just them individually. All that I signed was that I had to wear the patch and agree to the percentage each person would receive.

PND: What expectations did PokerNews have regarding what you would wear and how you would wear it?

Michelle: It wasn’t an exclusive arrangement. It was a basic backing deal. I have plenty of players who I know that get backed by other people. I am well aware that backing relates to money made in that tournament, not to endorsements or sponsorships. As an actress and a host, I’ve never signed an agreement that has exclusivity in it. They were backing me. I assumed that by signing, I agreed to the percentage each of us would receive. When the sponsorship came up, I was shocked to hear that I should have run that past them.”

PND: What is your ideal solution?

Michelle: There has been a lot of slander and accusations that have made me look bad. Unfortunately, maybe there was miscommunication and Jeff and Tony changed what they thought our agreement was. When the dollar signs pop up and people begin to get valuable, stories can change. Ultimately, I made them about $100,000 each. That’s a good payday in my opinion. At this point, I hope that it can all die down.

PND: This war of words has been waged in the public eye: On discussion forums and on PokerNews’ site. Have there been talks between you and PokerNews directly?

Michelle: PokerNews took the first step to release something publicly. In what I released, I stated that I would have loved to handle this disagreement outside of the public eye, but they felt the need to release it to a large audience. I didn’t think that was necessary and it was disappointing to me. It made me look really bad. There was a lot of incorrect information put out. They had the medium to go out and reach a lot of people. I’m not sure if they wanted to cover their tracks because they didn’t want to be associated with UltimateBet, but I’m not sure. I’m baffled.

PND: Has this experience dampened your high from the WSOP?

Michelle: I’m very happy. Every day gets better. As an actress and a musician, I understand that every time someone gets attention, other things come along with it. If I didn’t want to deal with the negatives, I wouldn’t be in this industry. No matter what good can you do and what positive attention you attract, there’s always going to be a lot of negativity. Most of the hating comes from people who are ill-informed. I’m confident of myself and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.

PND: What is your current relationship with PokerNews?

Michelle: I had plans to play poker more full time. I was appreciative of the opportunity that PokerNews gave me to host and travel, but I’ve always wanted to move forward. Regardless, when I made it as deep as I did in the World Series of Poker Main Event, I definitely decided I want to get back into poker.

So what do you think? Was Tiffany Michelle right to procure a sponsorship with Ultimate Bet? Check out the poll on our home page and voice your choice.